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Product Description
Book Description
From Giles Foden, prize-winning author of The Last King of Scotland, a gripping blend of fact and fiction in a novel about the D-Day landings.
Product Description
The D-day landings - the fate of 2.5 million men, 3000 landing craft and the entire future of Europe depends on the right weather conditions on the English Channel on a single day. A team of Allied scientists is charged with agreeing on an accurate forecast five days in advance. But is it even possible to predict the weather so far ahead? And what is the relationship between predictability and turbulence, one of the last great mysteries of modern physics?
Wallace Ryman has devised a system that comprehends all of this - but he is a reclusive pacifist who stubbornly refuses to divulge his secrets. Henry Meadows, a young maths prodigy from the Met Office, is sent to Scotland to discover Ryman's system and apply it to the Normandy landings. But turbulence proves more elusive than anyone could have imagined and events, like the weather, begin to spiral out of control.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I'm not going to repeat the plot since that is adequately covered by other reviewers and the Amazon blurb, and, anyway, this isn't a plot heavy novel. Intelligent and thoughtful, at heart this is a meditation on the impossible search for coherency and an overwhelming meaning and stability in life.
The narrator, Henry Meadows, is a young Cambridge academic caught up in the war effort and the attempt to predict the weather to facilitate the D-day landings. He believes in a formula which can neutralise the unexpected, the arbitrary messiness of real life, but learns that it is only the unpredictable which is predictable.
I'd never read any Foden before, and was impressed with his ability to convey character and the nuances of personality through his narrator's voice. Meadows is awkward, intellectually intelligent and yet somewhat socially inept, and seems to fit the period perfectly.
The research is also extremely impressive. Foden walks the tight-rope of conveying the intricacies and impossibilities of high-level maths/physics, without alienating the reader. In fact the way we (most of us, I would guess) cannot engage with the maths is itself important, conveying the impenetrability of the problem and, by association, telling us something about Meadows himself.
But if the atmosphere, register and tone of the book is flawless, sadly the novel as a whole isn't. While this is quietly compelling it lacks that certain something which turns a good novel into a great one. Perhaps it's that the characters aren't quite gripping enough, or that the scenario is ever so slightly artificial, an attempt to write up the importance of Meadows' work? I'm not sure, but while I enjoyed this book greatly, I could easily have stopped reading at any point without having a compelling need to finish it.
So overall a fine work with some excellent writing. But it didn't make me desperate to read the Foden back catalogue.
The narrator, Henry Meadows, is a young Cambridge academic caught up in the war effort and the attempt to predict the weather to facilitate the D-day landings. He believes in a formula which can neutralise the unexpected, the arbitrary messiness of real life, but learns that it is only the unpredictable which is predictable.
I'd never read any Foden before, and was impressed with his ability to convey character and the nuances of personality through his narrator's voice. Meadows is awkward, intellectually intelligent and yet somewhat socially inept, and seems to fit the period perfectly.
The research is also extremely impressive. Foden walks the tight-rope of conveying the intricacies and impossibilities of high-level maths/physics, without alienating the reader. In fact the way we (most of us, I would guess) cannot engage with the maths is itself important, conveying the impenetrability of the problem and, by association, telling us something about Meadows himself.
But if the atmosphere, register and tone of the book is flawless, sadly the novel as a whole isn't. While this is quietly compelling it lacks that certain something which turns a good novel into a great one. Perhaps it's that the characters aren't quite gripping enough, or that the scenario is ever so slightly artificial, an attempt to write up the importance of Meadows' work? I'm not sure, but while I enjoyed this book greatly, I could easily have stopped reading at any point without having a compelling need to finish it.
So overall a fine work with some excellent writing. But it didn't make me desperate to read the Foden back catalogue.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having neither read Giles Foden before, or seen the last king of scotland, I arrived at turbulence without preconceptions. I was interested in the subject and had never really thought about the detail that went into the planning of the D-Day invasion.
So it has all the right ingredients for a brit to enjoy, war, intrigue, conflict, weather and a sort of bumbling hero type.
I will leave other reviewers to go into the detail of the story ... what I found was an enjoyable (if sometimes heavy going) factual novel that manages to fill in some of what it was like to live during the war. My wife is doing her family tree and was interested in some of the snipets I read out.
I quite like the bumbing 'anti-hero' approach that obviously comes good in the end (with a little help).
I read the book on a two week holiday on the beach ... I thought it was perfect for that and has been returned to my bookshelf covered in suntan and sand stains. If you are expecting deep and insightful, maybe this isn't the book for you. If you want an entertaining read whilst gently toasting on a beach ... I thought it was great.
So it has all the right ingredients for a brit to enjoy, war, intrigue, conflict, weather and a sort of bumbling hero type.
I will leave other reviewers to go into the detail of the story ... what I found was an enjoyable (if sometimes heavy going) factual novel that manages to fill in some of what it was like to live during the war. My wife is doing her family tree and was interested in some of the snipets I read out.
I quite like the bumbing 'anti-hero' approach that obviously comes good in the end (with a little help).
I read the book on a two week holiday on the beach ... I thought it was perfect for that and has been returned to my bookshelf covered in suntan and sand stains. If you are expecting deep and insightful, maybe this isn't the book for you. If you want an entertaining read whilst gently toasting on a beach ... I thought it was great.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Having heard Giles Foden give a couple of publicity interviews on Radio 4 and watched recent coverage of the D-Day commemorations, I was really looking forward to reading this book. It turned out to be a sore disappointment.
The premise seemed to promise so much - Henry Meadows is a young meteorologist entrusted with developing a method of weatcher forecasting that will allow military commanders to choose the optimal timing for the D-Day landings. Under cover of establishing an observation station, he is sent to Scotland to try and extract information from 'The Prophet' Wallace Ryman, the reclusive author of a mathematical formula for calculating turblence, who has now dedicated himself to peace studies.
I was expecting the excitement of a wartime adventure with the intellectual stimulation of an explanation of the nascent science of forecasting. But I found neither excitement nor stimulation. Little happens for large chunks of the narrative. The climax of the plot hinges round a grotesque and rather preposterous accident. While there were some beautifully written passages about turbulence, I learnt less than expected about weather forecasting and the explanations of the "revelations" made possible by the Ryman number failed to inspire me, perhaps because Foden was forced to over-simplify complex mathematical ideas to such an extent they often sounded banal.
The book fails to engage on the emotional level too, as it is peopled by a distinctly unsympathetic bunch of characters. Meadows' bungling quickly grows tedious. By the end I was finding it hard to distinguish one weather-forecasting boffin from another. Gill, Ryman's wife, is rounded out with a little more human interest, but in the end she is reduced to a convenient plot device to bring Meadows some answers.
Meadows' later narrative as he undertakes a madcap voyage in the 1980s on an ice ship to take water to the Middle East frames the novel, but it is not clear what this device is supposed to add. A note from the author at the end explains that the character of Ryman is based on a real-life distant relative of his, but doesn't make clear how much of the rest of the story is fact and how much fiction, which I found frustrating.
Giles Foden can undoubtedly write well, but this book, which I had so eagerly anticipated, failed to engage me on any level. Perhaps it was my own fault for coming to it with a pre-conceived notion of what it would be like, but that was only based on interviews I had heard with Foden himself. I had been planning to give this book as a gift to someone interested in both weather and history, but I enjoyed it so little I don't think I'll be inflicting it on anyone else.
The premise seemed to promise so much - Henry Meadows is a young meteorologist entrusted with developing a method of weatcher forecasting that will allow military commanders to choose the optimal timing for the D-Day landings. Under cover of establishing an observation station, he is sent to Scotland to try and extract information from 'The Prophet' Wallace Ryman, the reclusive author of a mathematical formula for calculating turblence, who has now dedicated himself to peace studies.
I was expecting the excitement of a wartime adventure with the intellectual stimulation of an explanation of the nascent science of forecasting. But I found neither excitement nor stimulation. Little happens for large chunks of the narrative. The climax of the plot hinges round a grotesque and rather preposterous accident. While there were some beautifully written passages about turbulence, I learnt less than expected about weather forecasting and the explanations of the "revelations" made possible by the Ryman number failed to inspire me, perhaps because Foden was forced to over-simplify complex mathematical ideas to such an extent they often sounded banal.
The book fails to engage on the emotional level too, as it is peopled by a distinctly unsympathetic bunch of characters. Meadows' bungling quickly grows tedious. By the end I was finding it hard to distinguish one weather-forecasting boffin from another. Gill, Ryman's wife, is rounded out with a little more human interest, but in the end she is reduced to a convenient plot device to bring Meadows some answers.
Meadows' later narrative as he undertakes a madcap voyage in the 1980s on an ice ship to take water to the Middle East frames the novel, but it is not clear what this device is supposed to add. A note from the author at the end explains that the character of Ryman is based on a real-life distant relative of his, but doesn't make clear how much of the rest of the story is fact and how much fiction, which I found frustrating.
Giles Foden can undoubtedly write well, but this book, which I had so eagerly anticipated, failed to engage me on any level. Perhaps it was my own fault for coming to it with a pre-conceived notion of what it would be like, but that was only based on interviews I had heard with Foden himself. I had been planning to give this book as a gift to someone interested in both weather and history, but I enjoyed it so little I don't think I'll be inflicting it on anyone else.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
"Every so-called `accident,' every piece of turbulence, is part of a...
Set in London and Scotland from January through June, 1944, this unusual and fascinating novel may change the way you think of the weather and how long-range forecasts are made. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mary Whipple
Interesting but...
First off - I enjoyed this book. Foden seems to write about characters that are sympathetic but flawed and this book is no exception. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Jeremy
Even more boring than Atonement
Hugely disappointed.
I find it hard to believe that anyone can write a more boring novel set in WW2. Read more
I find it hard to believe that anyone can write a more boring novel set in WW2. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Pavlov's Dog
Disappointing
Had great expectations based on reviews and the author's previous work - I was really looking forward to this! Read more
Published 22 months ago by simonpeggfan
D DAY LANDINGS
Obviously weather was an important aspect in the D Day landings,but I never considered how important until I read Turbulence. This was a many stranded novel. Read more
Published 24 months ago by bibliophile
Definitely not heavy weather
Having just read John Simpson's latest book (the BBC news man) it was thrilling to get back into some fiction and I was totally captivated by the first thirty pages. Read more
Published on 3 May 2010 by Gary B
"Well researched"? No. Far too many errors and anachronisms.
"Well researched" say many reviewers. That may be true of the basic storyline, but too frequently there is some error or anachronism that makes the reader (me, anyway) stop and go... Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2010 by scandalxk
The poetic application of science
Turbulence is Giles Foden's account of making critical decisions based on chaotic (in the scientific sense) events, applied in this novel to a major wartime event. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2010 by ToneFloat
Hard work
I really wanted to like this book - I usually love novels in which language is used creatively and the characters are allowed to develop fully. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2010 by Tealady2000
Weathermen at war
Turbulence, published at the time of the D Day anniversary commemorations, casts a weather eye over the invasion. Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2009 by Adam Brooks
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